Ulff Lehmann's Blog: Blogging Lot - Posts Tagged "fads"

Be it music, movies, TV shows, books, it all comes down to personal enjoyment, doesn't it? We're all our best or worst critics, so to speak, what I like is my own, though I might share some tastes with others, nobody is beholden to my preferences.
Sadly, the corporate nature of businesses relies on demographics, so you sadly get more and more of what's been successful. Twilight, Game of Thrones, shit I named the two in the same sentence, the sacrilege! But seriously, if something sells, clones will pop up like mushrooms. Ironically, success can't be copied, measured or quantified, despite claims to the opposite. The Dark Knight movies became a hit because of the realistic approach. Man of Steel despite the same outlook, not so much.
I'm pretty sure there are some number crunchers out there, whose algorithms still tell them a clone of Twilight or Game of Thrones should be a success, when the fact is it isn't. It isn't soap, or soda, or chips, if a book strikes home, it does so because people can relate. Not every wizard student will be a Harry Potter, that train has left the station. And if you look at Game of Thrones, how long have the first few books been around before they became a global phenomenon? Of course people wanted to cash in on the success, after all it is a bloody affair with twists and turns, that binds millions to the TV screen. So they (MTV) latch onto a successful novel line, Shannara, and try to replicate the success... try is the operative word here. I read a bunch of Shannara novels decades ago, and while my younger self enjoyed them, they do not shock or bind as much as Westerosi intrigues.
So you want to create a story that rivals Game of Thrones? Yes, but I want to reach out to children and young adults as well, since that is a huge market... So you want to create X-Men: Origins - Wolverine and not Deadpool? To come back to movies. The former tried to serve all sorts of target groups, and became a despised laughing stock amongst fans. The latter stuck to its roots and kicked all kinds of ass.
When writing an original story, I think, people should stop listening to what the charts tell them, but write what they want to read. If all they come up with is cheap knockoffs of other people's creations, maybe they should read more than just this one book series or genre.
I am not talking about writing for a specific IP, that comes attached with so much stuff it ain't funny!
Tastes change over time, as one sees more, reads more, experiences more, what we once thought magical and extraordinary becomes quaint, at best. I, for one, do not want to go back and read what I read two decades ago. I got at least one shelf filled with novels I hoped to but never did read. And now, the thought of picking one of them up makes me want to switch on the TV and watch House M.D. instead.
Tastes change, which does not demean what we liked in the past, it just implies that you now like something different. Hey, when I was discovering music, I listened to Duran Duran, like thousands of other people, now, when I hear a song of that particular band, I get a wee bit nostalgic then shrug and search for crunchy guitars and such... so if you realize you don't like what you wrote or how you wrote something that you haven't touched in years, do not be afraid to update it, the core is still what you love, only now, instead of white chocolate it's dark... you like what you like. Simple as that

I guess I need to do some definition work here.

I've seen lots of people offering their prose for very low prices, if not totally free for a certain amount of time. To stir up excitement, y'know. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but as with everything free, I have my doubts that this will lead to a greater circulation, or a larger circle of readers. Sure, I don't have the numbers to prove this either way, it's just a gut feeling.

Free, or nearly free, to me at least is something you pick up, like a sample of one product or other, take it home, try it, and unless it's supremely exceptional you forget about it. Hells, I've forgotten about books I paid for and bought a second time. Then again, maybe I'm just scatterbrained like that. I guess if you fire enough bullets into the dark night, a couple might actually hit something worthwhile. Other than that, this high, this feeling of accomplishment when you see some 100 people picked up your free book, will dissipate rather quickly, especially if no reviews come along and the sale is moving more than sluggish.

Sure, you can brag about 100 people having picked up your book. 100, wow, 100 people maybe reading your book. Chances are, some are sampling it, most will forget they ever downloaded it.

Yes, I've read the recommendations about offering it for free for 2 weeks prior to official release, that it is a viable method of publicity. But I don't know... it sounds too easy... hence the easy way.

The hard way doesn't necessarily promise a better outcome. After all, hundreds of thousands of people publish their novels on kindle and create space, and each and everyone of them hopes they wrote the new Twilight or 50 Shades, and they'll attract millions of readers. Not that Twilight or 50 Shades is something anyone should aspire to, in my opinion. 50 Shades, I've read articles in which used books shop owners asked people to not bring in any more of those, they already could build a wall of the ones they had, and nobody was buying the fucking things. I suspect that most people bought the book for the same reason you poke an aching tooth with your tongue, you know the outcome but you can't stop yourself. Once the tooth is pulled, or the junk read, you don't want to do it again.

I went the hard way, I ask an appropriate price for my work, for it is my work. I've worked on the story on and off for 20 years or more, I am proud of it, and since I've had people tell me long before it went "live" how much they enjoyed it, I know what I had written had value. Fuck, I put years of my time into its creation, I know my worth, and my work's value. If I were to offer it for 99 Cents, what would that say about how much I value myself? Have I slaved for so long to sell my creation so cheaply? Matters of self worth aside, psychology is a factor not only for myself. If I sell the book for something more like industry standard, what does that say about me? (snarky voices would call me a greedy bastard, I know) There is this little voice inside everyone's head comparing all the time, counting, wondering:

"Why is X selling the book so cheaply? Does he think it isn't worth more? If he has such a low opinion of his work, it must suck. Sure, it's only 99 cents, but this other guy, he asks more, much like a normal book..."

Perception matters a lot... 6.99 for a novel or .99 for a novel... in your mind the cheaper novel is always "cheaper" and if you read the sample this impression is along for the ride, whispering about how this sample is from the cheaper book. In job interviews, one of the greatest most important motto is to not sell yourself under value, and in a way the sampling and the pricing of your novel is like a job interview! After all, if someone buys your novel, it's your job to entertain this person. My 6,99 promises I know what I'm doing, and that you will be entertained. Sure, the sample helps, but in a potential employer's/reader's eyes, the price, the self worth, matters. It says: "Here's a writer who knows what he is doing, and he is not afraid to ask a higher price for his work!"

Now let's be honest, one's knee jerk reaction to 99 cents goes along the lines of "This can't be any good." Two apples, next to each other, one for 50 cents, the other for 1 dollar. The very first question people will ask is "What's wrong with the cheaper apple?"

Granted, if you don't follow through with your confident proclamation of self worth, you're pretty much fucked, bad reviews and bad word of mouth. People won't forget the bastard who cheated them...

But! If your novel holds what it promises through the price and the sample, you will have a happy, dare I say very happy, customer, who will tell others of his latest employee, because in a way we writers are employees, of the entertainment variety but someone has bought our work, the hundreds of hours we put into the product. And in the end that is what matters most!

I do not aim to please every reader, but thankfully Shattered Dreams' first chapter makes a fucking loud statement about what people can expect, so those who don't like it will stop before they even buy the novel.

I chose the hard way, but no good thing in life is ever easy, in my opinion.